System and method for a national lottery

ABSTRACT

A lottery method including assigning a plurality of entities respective allotments of lottery tickets so that each allotment of lottery tickets for each respective entity corresponds to a number of eligible people in the entity. The method also includes selling the lottery tickets in each respective entity such that each lottery ticket comprises a unique lottery identifier and the method includes selecting a winning lottery ticket from a combination of the lottery tickets. The method further includes distributing a portion of proceeds from the selling to a winner having the winning lottery ticket, distributing a portion of the proceeds from the selling to the respective entity where the winning lottery ticket was purchased, or holding the portion of the proceeds for another drawing.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and system for anational lottery, which combines the aspects of lottery, raffle,drawings, prize pools, and the probability of winning a prize throughthe random selection of a lottery ticket.

Many traditional lottery systems place much responsibility on eachindividual lottery entity and are costly to maintain and operate. Withexemplary embodiments of the invention, individual lottery entities arerelieved of such responsibility and cost expenditures.

SUMMARY

The above and other embodiments are accomplished according to one aspectof the invention wherein there is provided a method for a lottery whichincludes, according to one embodiment: a method for assigning aplurality of entities respective allotments of lottery tickets, whereineach allotment of lottery tickets for each respective entity correspondsto a number of eligible people in the entity; selling the lotterytickets in each respective entity, wherein each lottery ticket comprisesa unique lottery identifier; selecting a winning lottery ticket from acombination of the lottery tickets; and distributing a portion ofproceeds from the selling to a winner having the winning lottery ticket,distributing a portion of the proceeds from the selling to therespective entity where the winning lottery ticket was purchased, orholding the portion of the proceeds for another drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will be more readily understoodfrom the following detailed description when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an overview of the allocation of tickets to participatingentities according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the process after FIG. 1 according to anexemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the process of choosing the winning ticketsubsequent to the process depicted in FIG. 2 according to an exemplaryembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is an example of the lottery system according to an exemplaryembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An embodiment of the invention involves a method and system forconducting a lottery involving a plurality of participating entities.Each participating entity may be assigned an initial allotment oflottery tickets based on an eligible population in the entity. Theinitial allotment of lottery tickets, however, may be exceeded. Retaillocations in each participating entity place the lottery tickets on-saleduring a specified time period. Each lottery ticket has a uniqueidentifier. The unique identifier allows the lottery to have a uniquewinner at each prize level, drawn from a pool of the lottery tickets,that is, no winning tickets for a prize have the same identifier. Thisassures a potential winner that there will be no split winnings of aprize. There may be several prizes at any prize level. For example,there may be fifteen drawings for a $1,000,000 USD prize level in whicheach of the fifteen winners may receive the $1,000,000 USD prize.

Embodiments of the invention reduce the responsibility for thoseentities who conduct their own individual entity lotteries, reducingcost expenditures associated with conducting an individual lottery, andincreasing the revenue streaming from a lottery system for eachparticipating entity.

With the lottery system and method according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, individual entities need only to maintain a datastore for storing ticket information. A management body may handle theother aspects of running a lottery, thus reducing individual entities'costs of conducting a similar lottery on their own. An example of amanagement body may be The National Lottery Commission.

A secondary revenue stream for each participating entity may be createdusing the described system and method. For example, all lottery ticketproceeds may be stored in an entity escrow account. Each participatingentity may retain the interest income generated from the lottery ticketproceeds in the account. In addition, each participating entity mayreceive a payment for their participation. Participating entities mayanticipate the amount of the payment once the management body determinesthe number of entities participating in a given drawing. The managementbody may set the entity payment at a higher percentage than otherlottery systems to generate more revenue for each participating entity.For example, five percent of the lottery ticket proceeds sold in eachparticipating entity may be the entity payment amount and may beretained by the entity. The management body may also set aside a lotteryadministrative fee for each entity to advertise the lottery and forother expenses. For example, five percent of the lottery ticket proceedssold in each participating entity may be the lottery administrative feefor each entity and the entity may retain those funds.

The management body may determine the amount for which each lotteryticket is sold so that the lottery tickets may generate more revenue perdollar than other traditional lottery products. Due to the greaterreturn according to an embodiment of the invention, participatingentities should not be concerned of loss sales attributed to competinglotteries.

Participating entities may also reduce their budget allocated to lotteryadvertising. A concern for some entities is the necessity of having tocompete with neighboring entity lotteries. Such competing entities tendto allocate a higher advertising budget to encourage individualconsumers to participate in a local entity's lottery rather thancrossing borders to purchase lottery tickets of a neighboring entity'slottery. Since competition with neighboring entity lotteries is ofsubstantially less concern in the embodiment, participating entities mayreduce their lottery advertising budget. It may be likely that allneighboring entities of a participating entity are participating in thelottery system and method according to the present invention. Inaddition, as stated above, each entity may retain funds from the sale ofthe lottery tickets to use for advertising the lottery.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. In this embodiment, nine entities 102-110 areparticipating in a given lottery cycle. An example of an entity 102-110may include, but is not limited to, a state from the United States ofAmerica, a province of Canada, etc. A lottery cycle may include a timeperiod beginning when the lottery tickets become available for purchaseand ending when a winning lottery ticket is drawn. There may be aplurality of drawings within each lottery cycle for a grand prize, firstprize, second prize, etc. In addition, there may be several lotterycycles in a year. Individual consumers may purchase lottery ticketsduring each lottery cycle.

Each participating entity 102-110 may pay an initial onetime membershipfee 111A-111I to participate. The management body may designate theonetime membership fee. Entities may be permitted to skip a lotterycycle and rejoin without additional expense or penalty. Eachparticipating entity 102-110 may be assigned an initial allotment of anumber of lottery tickets 112A-112I. The allotment per entity may varyand may be based on, for example, the eligible population of the entity.The eligible population of an entity includes those individual consumersresiding in the entity who are legally able to participate in a lottery.An example of an individual consumer who is able to participate is aperson of a legal age. The management body may assign each participatingentity an initial allotment of a number of lottery tickets 112A-112I.Each entity may only sell lottery tickets for their entity and may notsell another entity's lottery tickets. Although each entity is initiallyassigned an allotment of lottery tickets based on their respectiveeligible population, in an exemplary embodiment entities may be issuedadditional lottery tickets for sale corresponding to that particularentity if the entity sells their initial allotment prior to the end ofthe lottery. For example, Maryland may be assigned 4 million lotterytickets based on an eligible population of 4 million people. Marylandmay sell the 4 million lottery tickets and then may additionally sellany number of lottery tickets over the Maryland initial allotment of 4million lottery tickets.

If each participating entity sells only their allotment of lotterytickets, the number of lottery tickets 112A-112I may correspond to theeligible population of each respective entity. Accordingly, the sum ofthe lottery tickets 112A-112I may correspond to the total number oflottery tickets 101 sold in the lottery cycle. Since the eligiblepopulation can adjust according to variances in the population withinthe entity, the number of tickets 112A-112I allotted for that entitymight change. Individual consumers in entities with higher eligiblepopulations have no advantage with respect to the prize pool overindividual consumers in entities with smaller eligible populations.However, individual consumers in the entities with the smaller eligiblepopulation may have the opportunity of participating in a lottery with aprize pool that is larger than that which the entity could generate inits own lottery.

FIG. 2 shows another example of an embodiment of the invention. In thisexample, three entities 202-204 are participating in the lottery cycleand there are a total number of lottery tickets 201 for these threeentities 202-204. FIG. 2 shows an example of a process after the initialmembership fee 211A-211C is paid and the allotment of lottery tickets212A-212C is made to the participating entities 202-204. Eachparticipating entity 202-204 makes their allotment of tickets 212A-212Cavailable for sale during a specified time period 213A-213C of thelottery cycle. The time period 213A-213C may be the same for eachparticipating entity 202-204. A start date and a final end date may beestablished in advance of the specified period 213A-213C so that thelottery may be publicized and marketed.

The duration of the specified time period for the lottery cycle may beany duration. The duration, start date, and final end date may bepredetermined by the management body. In one embodiment, the durationmay last approximately 4 to 5 months from the start date to the finalend date. The lottery tickets may be made available for sale in eachentity at the start date. The lottery tickets may be unavailable forpurchase in each participating entity at the final end date.

At the start date of the specified time period 213A-213C, participatingentities 202-204 make their allotment of lottery tickets 212A-212Cavailable for sale. Eligible individual consumers may purchase aplurality of tickets. During the specified time period 213A-213C, eachentity may hold the ticket proceeds from the sold lottery tickets. Eachentity may hold the lottery ticket proceeds in an account such as anentity escrow account 214A-214C. Each participating entity 202-204 mayhave their own escrow account 214A-214C.

The lottery tickets may be purchased at existing lottery retaillocations within the entity. The management body may provide thenecessary materials to each entity to sell lottery tickets.

Each lottery ticket may contain identifying information. Suchidentifying information may include, for example, the (1) date and timethe ticket was sold, the (2) entity identifier as to where the ticketoriginated, and a (3) ticket identifier. For example, if the District ofColumbia were a participating entity, the tickets from the District ofColumbia may use “DC” as the entity identifier of where the ticket wassold. Other participating states may also use the two letter U.S. PostOffice state name abbreviation. For instance, New York may use “NY” asthe entity identifier and Maryland may use “MD” as the entity identifieron the sold ticket.

The ticket identifier may be a number, symbol, or character, or anycombination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention,consecutive numbers may be used as the ticket identifier. For example,numbers starting at 1,000,001 may be used for the ticket identifier foreach participating entity. Based on the eligible population of theparticipating entity, the numbers would range from 1,000,001 to the sumof the eligible population of that entity plus 1,000,000.

For instance, New York may have an eligible population of 18,000,000 andMaryland may have an eligible population of 4,000,000. The ticketidentifiers for New York may range from 1,000,001 to 19,000,001 and forMaryland may range from 1,000,001 to 5,000,001. The lottery tickets maybe issued in consecutive numbers so that the entity may be aware of howmany tickets have been sold at any given time. Each entity may reportits sales on a periodic basis to the management body. In combining theentity identifier with the ticket identifier, each lottery ticket may beunique from all the other lottery tickets issued. For example, thelottery ticket with the identifying information of “NY 1,000,001” isdifferent from the lottery ticket with the identifying information of“MD 1,000,001.” Millions of tickets may be sold with no duplicates. Ifan entity sells the initial allotment of lottery tickets, the additionaltickets issued may continue to have the appropriate entity identifier.

Each lottery ticket sold may have the identifying information, such asentity identifier and ticket identifier, stored on an entity data store.An example of an entity data store is a database for each entity. Asdepicted in FIG. 2, each entity 202-204 may have their own entity datastore 215A-215C.

FIG. 3 continues the example depicted in FIG. 2. At the expiration ofthe specified time period 213A-213C, each entity may transfer a portionof the proceeds of the ticket sales from the entity escrow accounts314A-314C into a common account 316. For example, the lottery ticketproceeds from each entity may be transferred into an escrow account at afinancial institution. As previously stated, each entity may retain anentity lottery retailers commission and an entity lottery administrativefee from the proceeds. The entity lottery administrative fee may be usedto advertise the lottery and for other expenses related to the lottery.Any deduction for fees may be based on the total lottery ticket sales.In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the entity lotteryretailers' commission and the entity lottery administrative fee may beapproximately five percent each (exclusive of interest). Any interest inthe entity escrow account earned until the expiration of the specifiedtime period 213A-213C may be retained by the respective entity. Eachentity may retain other amounts as directed by the law or other rules.

Each entity may allocate a management fee 318 to pay for theadministrative costs relating to the management body functions. Anexample of such management fee may be five percent of the total ticketsales.

The financial institution may certify to each participating entity thatthe prize funds are on deposit and available for distribution. Themanagement body may report to each participating entity the combinedsales of the participating entities to certify the prize pool. The prizepool may be a certain percentage of the lottery ticket sales. An exampleof such percentage may be fifty percent of the lottery ticket sales.There may be several drawings in a given lottery cycle with each drawingdeduction a portion of the prize pool. After the above-describeddeductions, the remaining proceeds are transferred to the common account316.

Once all the participating entities 202-204 have transferred theremaining proceeds and management fee allocation into the common account316, certain fees 318-319 may be deducted from the common account 316 asdepicted in FIG. 3. The management fee 318 may be deducted from thecommon account for the management body. As specified above, themanagement fee 318 may be five percent of the total ticket sales.

Each participating entity may receive an entity payment 319. The entitypayment 319 may differ for each participating entity. The sum of eachentity payment 319 for each participating entity may be a percentage ofthe total lottery ticket sales. An example of such percentage may bethirty-five percent of the lottery ticket sales to be distributedamongst each participating entity. Each entity may be assigned an entityunit number, which relates to the eligible population of the entity. Theentity payment 319 may be proportional to the eligible population of theentity. For example, New York may have an eligible population of18,000,000 and Maryland may have an eligible population of 4,000,000.The unit number for NY may be 18 and the unit number for Maryland may be4. New York will have a greater entity payment 319 than Maryland due tothe larger unit number for New York.

The entity payment 319 may be calculated by multiplying the total fundsavailable to the entities as an entity payment by the unit number of therespective entity and dividing by the total eligible population of allparticipating entities.

For example, Entity Payment=Total Entity Payment Funds Available*(EntityUnit Number/Total Eligible Population of All Participating Entities)

The following examples show a complete distribution of the total lotteryticket proceeds. 100,000,000 lottery tickets may be sold in a lotterycycle with each ticket price point being $20 USD. The total lotteryticket proceeds are then 100,000,000*$20=$2,000,000,000. Ten percent ofthe total lottery ticket proceeds are allocated among each entity forthe entity retailers commission and the entity lottery administrativefee which is $2,000,000,000*10%=$200,000,000. Five percent of the totallottery ticket proceeds are allocated to the management body fee whichis $2,000,000,000*5%=$100,000,000. Fifty percent is allocated for theprize pool which is $2,000,000,000*50%=$1,000,000,000. Thirty-fivepercent is then allocated as the entity payment for all theparticipating entities which is 2,000,000,000*35%=$700,000,000. Thetotal eligible population of all participating entities may be 188million people. If New York has a unit number of 18, then the entitypayment for New York will be as follows:

New York Entity Payment=$700,000,000*(18/188)=$67,021,276.59.

Accordingly, Maryland may have an entity payment as follows:

Maryland Entity Payment=$700,000,000*(4/188)=$14,893,617.02.

Accordingly, all participating entities may share in the lottery ticketproceeds systematically based on the unit number of the entity and theeligible population of the entity.

At the end of the expiration of the specified time period 213A-213C,each participating entity may relay the identifying information storedon each entity database 315A-315C into a common data store 317 such as acommon database. The common data store 317 may include the identifyinginformation of the lottery tickets sold from each participating entity315A-315C. After all the fees 318, 319 are deducted from the commonaccount 316 as depicted in 320, the remaining proceeds may be the prizeproceeds 322 for a plurality of different drawings. Once the prizeproceeds 322 are ready for disbursement, a single lottery ticket may beselected as the winning lottery ticket 321 for each drawing. In anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, a nationally recognizedaccounting and drawing firm may conduct the drawing.

Once a winning lottery ticket 321 is selected for the given drawing, adetermination must be made as to whether a winner claims the prize 323.The winner of the winning lottery ticket may have a certain window oftime to claim the prize. If the winner 325 comes forward to claim theprize, the winner 325 receives the prize money 327 from the commonaccount 316 holding a percentage of the prize proceeds 322 for thatdrawing. If no one 324 comes forward to claim the prize in the certainwindow of time, the prize money may remain in the common account 316 tobe used for the next drawing 326 including any interest accumulated. Inanother embodiment, if no one 324 comes forward to claim the prize inthe certain window of time, the prize money may be alternativelydistributed to each participating entity based on their NL Unit numbersor alternatively the prize money may be distributed to the entity fromwhich the winning lottery ticket was sold.

As stated above, there may be several drawings per given lottery cycle.In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, there may be 1 grand prizeof $500 million USD, 1 first prize of $300 million USD, 1 second prizeof $100 million USD, 15 third prizes of $3.33 million USD, 100,000fourth prizes of $100 USD, and 8 early bird prizes at $5 million USD. Inthis exemplary embodiment of the invention, there may be 100,026 winnersto win the prize pool.

The early bird prizes may be allocated for entrants that purchaselottery tickets before an early date marker in the specified time periodof the lottery. An example of an early date marker may be the end of thefirst 30 days of the lottery cycle. If an individual consumer playerwins an early bird prize, the individual consumer player may still beeligible to win the other prizes drawn later in the lottery cycle. In anexemplary embodiment of the invention, if an individual consumer wins aprize other than the early bird, then the lottery ticket of theindividual consumer player does not enter into subsequent drawings. Inanother exemplary embodiment of the invention, if an individual consumerplayer wins a prize other than the early bird, then the lottery ticketof the individual consumer player may enter into subsequent drawings.

Since only a unique winning lottery ticket 321 is chosen per drawing,the management body may guarantee the prize pool with specified amountsper drawing and no split winnings. As described above, the prize pool isa pre-determined amount of prize money stated at the commencement of thedraw. The amount of the prize money must be guaranteed to be availablefrom the start date. Each entity may provide a percentage of the prizepool and the management body may use a third party to provide anynecessary guarantees. With a drawing of a winner, the prize may beawarded regardless of the number of tickets required to be sold in orderto generate funds for the prize pool. In any given drawing, an entitymay not reach their expected sales goal while another entity may exceedtheir expected sales gold. Since the prize designation is not determinedby the number of tickets sold, the number of tickets sold is germane tothe profits. It is a design of lottery to assure that the lottery ticketsales for the drawings, are an easily attainable percentage of the totaldrawing prize.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the lottery system according to an embodimentof the present invention. The management body 400 may assign a pluralityof entities 202-204 respective allotments of lottery tickets. Theallotment may correspond to the number of eligible people in eachparticipating entity able to participate in a lottery. The managementbody may oversee the drawing of a winning lottery ticket and thedistribution of proceeds, among other things. As described above, thelottery tickets have unique identifying information so that each lotteryticket is different and there is a unique winning lottery ticket for agiven prize drawing. The plurality of entities 202-204 may make thelottery tickets available for sale during the specified time periodthrough the use of retailers 402-403. The retailers 402-404 may sell thelottery tickets to an eligible population 401. The eligible population401 may purchase tickets in any participating entity and are notrestricted to the entity in which they may reside.

The above description of the present invention is susceptible to variousmodifications, changes and adaptations, and the same are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appendedclaims.

1. A lottery method, comprising: assigning a plurality of entitiesrespective allotments of lottery tickets, wherein each allotment oflottery tickets for each respective entity corresponds to a number ofeligible people in the entity; selling the lottery tickets in eachrespective entity, wherein each lottery ticket comprises a uniquelottery identifier; selecting a winning lottery ticket from acombination of the lottery tickets; and distributing a portion ofproceeds from the selling to a winner having the winning lottery ticket,distributing a portion of the proceeds from the selling to therespective entity where the winning lottery ticket was purchased, orholding the portion of the proceeds for another drawing.
 2. A lotterymethod according to claim 1, further comprising: storing ticketinformation about each lottery ticket on an entity data store for eachrespective entity.
 3. A lottery method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: holding the proceeds of each lottery ticket sold in anentity escrow account for each respective entity.
 4. A lottery methodaccording to claim 3, further comprising: transferring a majority of theproceeds in each entity escrow account into a specified common account,wherein the specified common account holds the portion of the proceedsto be set aside for the winning lottery ticket.
 5. A lottery methodaccording to claim 4, further comprising: distributing a management feefrom the specified common account to a management body; and distributingan entity payment from the specified common account to each respectiveentity.
 6. A lottery method according to claim 1, wherein the selectingcomprises choosing from the combination of the lottery tickets which aresold.
 7. A lottery method according to claim 1, wherein the selectingcomprises choosing a plurality of unique winners for a plurality ofdrawings.
 8. A lottery method according to claim 1, wherein the sellingis during a specified time period.
 9. A lottery method according toclaim 4, wherein the selling is during a specified time period and thetransferring is conducted at an expiration of the specified time period.10. A lottery method according to claim 2, further comprisingtransmitting the ticket information from each entity data store to acommon data store, wherein the common data store comprises thecombination of the lottery ticket identifiers of the lottery tickets.11. A lottery method according to claim 10, wherein the drawing isconducted from the lottery ticket identifiers stored at the common datastore.
 12. A lottery method according to claim 5, further comprisingdispensing an amount of the entity payment proportional to the eligiblepopulation of the entity.
 13. A lottery method according to claim 1,wherein the assigning a plurality of entities a discrete number oflottery tickets comprises entities from a state of the United States ofAmerica, the District of Columbia, and a Commonwealth of the UnitedStates of America.
 14. A lottery system, comprising: a management bodyto assign a plurality of entities respective allotments of lotterytickets, wherein each allotment of lottery tickets for each respectiveentity corresponds to a number of eligible people in the entity able toparticipate in a lottery, wherein the management body oversees a drawingfor a winning lottery ticket for the drawing from a combination of thelottery tickets which are sold, and wherein the management body (a)oversees a distribution of a portion of proceeds from a sale of thelottery tickets for the drawing to a winner of the drawings having thewinning lottery ticket for the drawing, (b) oversees a distribution of aportion of the proceeds from the lottery tickets sold to the respectiveentity where the winning lottery ticket was purchased, or (c) overseesthat a particular financial institution holds the portion of theproceeds for another drawing; and a retailer to sell the lottery ticketsto an eligible population, wherein each lottery ticket comprises aunique lottery identifier.
 15. A lottery system according to claim 14,further comprising: an entity data store for each respective entity tostore ticket information about each lottery ticket sold.
 16. A lotterysystem according to claim 14, further comprising: an entity escrowaccount at a financial institution for each respective entity to holdthe proceeds of each lottery ticket sold.
 17. A lottery system accordingto claim 16, further comprising: a specified common account at theparticular financial institution to receive a majority of the proceedsin each entity escrow account, wherein the specified common accountholds the portion of the proceeds to be set aside for the winninglottery ticket of the drawing.
 18. A lottery system according to claim17, wherein the management body distributes a management fee from thespecified common account to the management body and distributes anentity payment from the specified common account to each respectiveentity.
 19. A lottery system according to claim 14, wherein themanagement body assigns each lottery ticket a specified price.
 20. Alottery system according to claim 14, wherein the plurality of retailerssell the lottery tickets during a specified time period.
 21. A lotterysystem according to claim 17, wherein the plurality of retailerstransfer the proceeds from the lottery tickets at an expiration of thespecified time period.
 22. A lottery system according to claim 15,wherein the management body oversees a transmission of the ticketinformation from each entity data store to a common data store, whereinthe common data store comprises the combination of the lotteryidentifiers of the lottery tickets sold in each entity and the drawingis from the common data store.
 23. A lottery system according to claim18, wherein the entity payment for each respective entity correspondsproportionally to the eligible population of the respective entity. 24.A lottery system according to claim 14, wherein the plurality ofentities comprises entities from a state of the United States ofAmerica, the District of Columbia, and a Commonwealth of the UnitedStates of America.
 25. A lottery system, comprising: a plurality ofentities to make available for sale a discrete number of lotterytickets, wherein the discrete number of lottery tickets for eachrespective entity corresponds to a predetermined number, wherein eachlottery ticket comprises a unique identifier; a retailer to sell thelottery tickets; a management body to draw one winning lottery ticket ina drawing from the discrete number of lottery tickets, wherein themanagement body oversees a distribution of proceeds from the sale oflottery tickets to any or a combination of: (1) a winner of the drawinghaving the winning lottery ticket, (2) the respective entity where thewinning lottery ticket was purchased of the one of the plurality ofdrawing, and (3) an account for another drawing.
 26. A lottery method,comprising: assigning a plurality of entities a discrete number oflottery tickets, wherein the number corresponds to a predeterminednumber, wherein each lottery ticket comprises a unique lotteryidentifier; selling the lottery tickets at a specified price to theeligible population during a specified time period by retailer locatedin each one of the plurality of entities; storing ticket informationabout each lottery ticket sold in each entity on an entity data storefor each entity; holding proceeds of each lottery ticket sold in anentity account for each entity; transferring the ticket information fromeach entity data store into a common data store; transferring a majorityof the proceeds in each entity account into a common account at anexpiration of the specified time period; distributing a management feefrom the common account to a management body; distributing an entitypayment from the common account to each participating entity, whereinthe entity payment corresponds to the eligible population of the entity;selecting a lottery identifier from the common data store in thedrawing, wherein the selecting is by a firm; and distributing theremaining proceeds to a winner of the drawing having the winning lotteryticket for the drawing, the respective entity where the winning lotteryticket was purchased, or an escrow account for another drawing.
 27. Amethod according to claim 26, wherein the selecting of the lotteryidentifier of the drawing is at a designated early-bird time which is ata date prior to a date of a second drawing, wherein the lotteryidentifier of the drawing at the designated early-bird time is alsoentered into the second drawing.
 28. A method according to claim 27,wherein the designated early-bird time is thirty days after thespecified time period begins.